Phil: July 2008 Archives

I know I haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks, sorry.  Busy.

This is the floorplan of the house we're planning to build.  The garage is on the left, with entry from the left.  The center area is a laundry room and walk-in pantry.  The section on the right will be built from ICF (insulated concrete foam), which leaves us with 11 inch walls (2.5" foam on outside and inside with 6" of concrete in between).

The round things in between are two 8100 gallon rainwater collection tanks.  I believe I explained the rainwater system in an earlier post but you can see more about the system at www.tanktown.com.

I had a hole dug yesterday to sample the soil and should get a foundation plan from the engineer next week.  My brother's (Steve) wife's (Shea) Uncle Lonnie and I will dig out the foundation and lay rebar (I had 450 20' #4 (1/2") sticks delivered yesterday.  I'll hire a crew for the pour and finish and should be ready to start setting the walls in a couple of weeks (I hope).  The electric company will begin work in a couple of weeks as well.

Sorry, I don't know if you're interested in this or not so I think I'll go for a swim.... L8R.

Here's a look from the left side, the front of the house will face the right side of the photo.  As I was standing and taking this photo there is a road directly behind me that goes from this south end to the north end.  You'll see that photo next, below....

You'd actually have to talk a bit to get to and up this road a bit to see this view. It's really convenient to access the upper part of the ranch (refer to aerial photo from previous post). It pretty much runs along the treeline on the right side and is about 20 feet wide as it is now.  I'm not sure how much use it will get but I'll keep at least a full-width car lane clear for access.

I got a letter from a company in Houston that wanted to perform a seismic survey in the area and asked our permission to come on the ranch and survey it.  They'll bring a mulcher machine that cuts down scrubby small growth and mulches it, leaving a 10 foot wide path behind.  They won't take out any large trees and the paths won't be straight lines, they'll take the path of least resistance.  When they're done we'll have paths running through the woods we'd be able to drive my Ranger through.  We'll maintain the ones we want and let the others grow back in.  These machines normally cost $150 per hour to hire and this job is worth around $2500!  The best part is they sent me a check for $10 per acre to let them do the mulching and the survey, nearly $800!  There's no drilling or other kind of destruction to the land and they won't disturb my homesite.  Pretty cool, huh?  (Let's hope they find oil!)

Paul at the Quiet Woman in Halstock requested more photos of the ranch. This is a tease... the graded entry from the dirt road to our dirt driveway. As usual, click on the photo to enlarge and enjoy!

The nice thing about this, besides being 25 feet wide, is you can't see our homesite from the road.  (I know, that's tasteless - sorry Brits.)  [I've really found my gall today, I don't know what's the matter with me.]

LOVE YOU ALL !!!

Buster is healing well after a toe amputation.  The lab results came back and the cyst was benign.  Also, the vets were really surprised at what good health Buster was in when they did his pre-op exam, especially the expensive, oops, I mean "extensive" ultrasound.

He gets his stitches out tomorrow and has been really good during his recovery. The vet gave me one of those head cones to put around his neck to keep him from licking or gnawing the bandaged foot but I never put it on him.  I remember laughing at dogs that wore those when I was a kid - no offense to those of you whose dogs have worn those things (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... ).

I didn't know we had guests from England (hem, shameless plug).  A cheery hello to all in Halstock!  Stay dry!  Please do leave us a comment, won't you?  

I realise this is blurry, you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to get this guy to stop squirming long enough for a portrait.  I included this to give you a sense of proportions, to see how small he is.  He's a couple of weeks older now and about 30 lbs, growing fast.  

Chase was my birthday (May 21) present from Steve (my brother).  Chase is actually pure-breed Labrador and has quite a good blood line.  We're lucky to have him and I am doing my best to train him well and keep him healthy.

Here he is....

Ladies man!  This photo can be enlarged by clicking on it.  Drag it to your desktop to save it, girls, there won't be many of these gems!

(The beauty mark under his left eye is from when he ran into a planter.)

I can hear the sighs, the hearts melting... oh, how cute !

The reason for this procedure is to prevent spammers and other programs from loading up the comment section with raunchy advertisements, which is what happened with the old weblog after some time.  It makes my job as an administrator easier.

Thanks for your cooperation!  Enjoy!

Here's a google earth photo of the property, about 8 years old.  The open areas are all grown in with trees and shrubs.  The entire area is 80.5 acres.  The pond in the middle is spring-fed and there is a large gully visible at the top.  We've cleared a road coming in from the left side on the lower end and one from the lower right-hand clearing along the right interior tree-line to the upper-right side, near the top.  We've also cleared the homestead sight, which is near the bottom, in the middle, where it looks like a "V".  It appears clear in the picture but I assure you it wasn't.  

We're back and under construction.  Leave a comment and tell us how you like it.  I'll be changing the format as I learn how to use this new version of MovableType.  Soon you'll be viewing pictures, videos, files and audio from our website.  I hope to keep you all entertained and informed as I update you on the latest news and developments.  STAY TUNED !!